Easy Silence
by Tigris Lilium
Summary: How the temptations of a Great General can affect the life of an innocent woman craving for any semblance of love. SephxOC


Title: Easy Silence 

Author: BluesyEyes

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, only the ideas of this story.

* * *

Curled in a ball, she stared forward at her feet. She couldn't really believe it. The parcel, the stick, the confirmation sat in front of her like a sore thumb. It was true. How was she supposed to deal with it?

She shuddered, as she put her face into her knees and felt her stomach tighten in whatever emotion she was feeling all mixed up into one – tension, sadness, fright, nervousness, hate, loathing – and all they did was make her want to throw up.

She leaned forward and emptied the contents of her lunch into the toilet in front of her.

How had she let it happen? How could she let it happen? How could he let it happen? It was all so unfair. She wasn't ready for this responsibility. She wasn't ready to carry this upon her shoulders alone. If he was gone… if he was dead, it would have been different, but he wasn't; he was trekking somewhere up to the North Crater where he would summon the greatest evil that ever lived.

And she was just his toy, his little plaything that she had bought into with the snap of the finger…

* * *

Long curly blonde hair, tied in a white bow, cascaded down her back and flicked at her hips luxuriously. That was the first this he noticed about her.

She was a nurse at one of the local hospitals in Midgar. It had been awhile since he had been to a hospital, but it wasn't him that he was tending. He was coming here for a First Aid box, and what other place to get a First Aid box than the best hospital on Gaia.

The second thing he noticed was the curves of her body in their white confines of a nurses' clothing as she walked away from him. She wasn't a twig, but she wasn't a big woman either; she had curves to be longest for.

She stopped and he frowned, wondering what she was going to do next. She turned to the doctor next to her with a smile, a beautiful and bright. And her lips were a perfect hue of pink. That was the third thing he noticed about her. Her smile was infectious to those around her.

Except him.

The doctor smiled and took a few steps closer to her. They must have an intimate relationship. However, her body language said otherwise. They were close, but not that close. They talked for a bit before she gave him her clipboard.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Having advanced hearing wasn't such a bad thing. He stood up from his chair, crossed his arms and paced impatiently as he waited for the woman at the desk to finish getting his First Aid kit.

She went to the clock, wrote something down and she said something to herself that he couldn't quite make out. He noticed her arms next, pale but strong. He didn't doubt that she worked out often to keep her figure the way it was.

The next thing he noticed was her legs as she walked from the end of the hallway toward him. They were tanned, long, and almost endless. His eyebrow went up just a little bit when she bent over to talk to a little kid sitting in the chair with an icepack to his head. She whispered something and then kissed the boy's head.

She had incredible legs.

And as he tapped his feet in impatience, she continued toward him. She had an aura around her, white and pure. She picked up her coat, a long beige coat. She wrapped a white scarf around her neck and pulled on a white pair of gloves. She pulled her hair from it and played with the ends just a bit before continuing on while buttoning up the extra warm layer.

She moved toward him, and then stopped at the desk where he was waiting. "Goodnight, Tess. I'll see you in the morning." She said softly. Another thing he noticed was that her voice was soft, soothing and it sounded like a soft hum. A song, perhaps.

He chuckled. He had never been so descriptive of a human being before.

"Goodnight, Arin." The nurse on the other side of the desk responded.

"Make sure you page me with any complications." She said softly as she picked up another clipboard and flipped over it.

He, the one waiting, watched her talk. She had a tilt of her head when she was concerned, and she nibbled on her bottom lip when she was thinking of something nervous-like.

He chuckled inwardly.

She turned slightly and put the clipboard away on the hook. She pushed herself away from the desk, turned and continued to pass by him. She passed him and it seemed like time went into slow motion.

Each thing he noticed seemed to be even more acute now that he was so close. The second last thing he noticed was her scent. She smelled like vanilla and roses.

But he was tired of waiting for the stupid First Aid, and he grumbled as he snapped, "Excuse me, miss."

She quickly turned around, surprise lighted on her features.

The last thing he noticed, and the most prominent were her eyes. A bright blue… a mako blue. She had been exposed to extreme lengths of mako before. She took a few steps forward.

It seemed she was shocked by his snapping because as she slowly relaxed, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned back on her one leg with the other one a bit forward.

"Yes, sir? How can I help you?" The only thing she looked like she wanted to do was go home and he was keeping her.

_Too bad._ He said to himself as he explained his situation of needing the First Aid. For some reason, he wished he had injured himself instead of his traveling companion.

"Sure, I can get you that." She passed by him again, and he didn't miss the smell of her again. The same, but now with an agitated emotion. _Interesting._ "Hey, Tess, you still haven't gotten this man his First Aid."

_This man…_ somehow, something inside of him switched on. This man… he wasn't just any man. He was a General of an army. He was the Great General Sephiroth from the Great War of Wutai.

"General Sephiroth, right?" The blonde then asked as she looked up with her one eyebrow raised, as she checked out a kit. His switch turned off again, and his brows furrowed. "I take it by the… expression on your face, I'm correct in my assumption."

"Yes." He said curtly and she nodded.

"Sorry about making you wait. Next time, I promise we won't make you wait. It's been a busy day and Tess is sort of backed up. She's young and new, and she didn't really know who you were. She's from Icicle Village up north, so she's a little out of the loop." The blonde woman laughed, "Right, Tess."

"Right." She mumbled, "Stop bothering me like that. You've been telling everyone who comes in here."

"Sorry." The blonde replied and then took a few steps past Sephiroth again. "And sorry about the wait. Goodnight."

He stopped, looking forward and his eyes narrowed toward her. She wasn't afraid of him. Most people that he met or ran into would be quivering in fear, but she didn't.

Really, what was so different about her anyway?

Just before she walked out the door, she flashed him a smile, her blue eyes sparkling in the green hospital lights…

* * *

The green hospital lights and the snap of his fingers didn't do much for her heart or anything else for her well-being.

She slowly stood up from her spot on the bathroom floor and turned on the shower, water set to hot. When she stepped in, she washed away everything and washed away her guilt.

No… that snap of his elegantly gloves hand, and the light reflecting off of his soft silver hair didn't do anything for her heart. Nothing. Nothing at all…

* * *

He was curious about her. He was curious about who she was, how she lived, who she knew. He was curious about all things her.

He didn't make it an occurrence to run into her. He just did in odd places. He met her at Fort Condor about two months after their first meet as he was resting along his journey. She was nursing an old man to health, having been whisked there by helicopter.

She wasn't a nurse. She was a doctor, he had discovered. She was a doctor with a very delicate, soft but firm touch. She healed with her hands. He silently wondered what her hands felt like.

He had come to Fort Condor for food, and mainly to see the Condor itself as it nested its egg. He had always been in awe of it, even now twelve years after he had last seen it.

He entered the fort and eased himself up the ropes and ladders to the inner core. He may as well get a home cooked meal before he continued along his journey. When he was finished eating, she had arisen from a room with soaked bandages and a dirty apron stained red.

She looked up at him, smiled ever so slightly and then moved on to the next room, which he assumed was the laundry room. He was curious, so he entered the room she had exited out off.

It smelled of war, of sweat and of death. He swallowed hard as he looked around. There weren't many people, maybe about five or six, but they were all critically injured, if not dead.

It didn't take him long to notice that four were still alive, and heavily bandaged. He noticed the blood that was on the floor, probably because of soaked rags or simply from dripping. It hadn't been long since he had seen that very same image.

He turned when he heard a noise from behind him. She was there with fresh cloths and blankets. It seemed as if she splashed water on her face because it looked cleaner. She wore her white silk ribbon around her head to keep her hair from falling into her face: not the most becoming, but at least she got the job done.

She whispered something either to herself or to him, but he couldn't make it out. She looked at him, her blue eyes dull with sadness. She bowed her head and then moved on to one of the patients.

She began to undress his wounds, the cloths slick with blood. He noticed she was shaking as she did so. She touched the man's arms carefully, softly not to hurt him, and slowly bathed it with a sponge to clear to wound. She blew air onto it and then brushed her fingers over his arm. Not too soon afterward did she re-bandage the arm up.

She seemed of very few words that morning. Once she was done with his arm, she got back up, picked up the dirty bucket of water and moved toward the door.

She looked at Sephiroth again, searching for anything plausible. All he could do was look back, an empty, cold stare as she continued to work. She exited the room, leaving him alone with death…

* * *

Arin picked herself out of the bathroom and made her way through her apartment in Midgar. It was a nice apartment, with warm colours and a homey smell, or at least that's what all her friends told her.

It wrapped her into her own little word where everything was perfect, serene and nothing was her problem.

She sighed. No. Everything was still her problem. She still carried the weight of the world upon her shoulders. She looked down at her hands. Healing hands… angel hands. That's what she had been given.

That's what she had been blessed with. But was it really any use? Wasn't the body supposed to supply its spirit to the Lifestream? Why did one need to be healed when, clearly, it was been called away?  
No one ever answered her back when she asked.

She put her hand on her abdomen and sighed. Maybe she was just jealous that everyone else could leave this earth where she was meant to remain here and continue the existence that she lived.

But now she wasn't alone. Her responsibilities were growing more and more each day, and as they grew, her heart seemed to shrink.

The hole was getting too big. She didn't think she could make it. She would already feel herself wilting. She sighed as the hole continued to grow bigger…

* * *

She knew everything would change when she made her decision. She just didn't know that fate had a different plan that would change her life so drastically…

* * *

When he met her next, she was in Junon. She was a tourist that time, clean of blood, sweat and tears. She wore her hair loose, cascading down her back and around her shoulders, with bangs in her eyes. She wore a white dress that hugged her appropriately.

She looked innocent, but she also looked aware.

He was in his old apartment that he really felt to use in selling when he had left all those years ago, and he was looked out his window when he saw her. No one would have picked her out of a crowd such as this one, but today, her hair glowed in the sunlight.

She kept walking though, with an oversized bag on her one arm and a little one on her other. Clothes, probably.

It was interesting to see her this way. She had always been work, work, work from when he saw her, so to see her relaxed and smiling joyously enlightened him.

Not that enlightenment was needed. He had a mission. He had his Mother to tend to.

He saw her next on the boat, because while he stayed hidden, she made conversation with his rivals. While he stayed quiet, she laughed with the guard by the door. While he watched her, she seemed to have her own agenda as she looked around. It almost seemed as if she knew he were there.

He waited until she had gone to the upper deck before making his move, and he made sure to watch as she walked away.

It wasn't that it was supposed to be this way. She had always been told that she could choose her own path, her own fate… but maybe, just maybe, fate was choosing her and maybe fate was choosing her path for her.

Especially with the new responsibilities of life.

North Crater… that's where he was, in all his dark glory and destructive hate. She had tried to heal it, but it didn't work. He wouldn't let her in. No, not ever.

* * *

The last time he saw her was in Nibelheim. She had a dark tinge around her from what he had seen before. Her hair was in a braid like that brunette traveling with his puppet, but it didn't seem as bright as it once did.

Was she born here? Was this her home?

He stood in the shadows, trying to see past her. The Shinra Mansion, his objective. He had learned so much about his past from that place. He learned about his mother, Jenova, the calamity. He learned about the experiments performed on him and the betrayal of humanity to the Cetra. He cursed under his breath.

Humans were a weakness. And this blonde haired girl was just that. A weakness and nothing else.

Nibelheim wasn't really relevant to his plans, he was there to look back on his past and to venture through the mountains to get to the North Crater.

Descending from the shadows, he moved past the fountain in the middle of the town square and towards the Mansion. She was sitting there, eyes gazing into the dark water.

He debated stopping, but he continued to walk. He only stopped when he heard her voice. A heavenly voice, like angels. She sang and when she opened her mouth, the skies must've rejoiced.

He turned just so he could see her. He watched in amazement as she moved her hands over the water, sticking her index finger through the tops of the water. It rippled, but instead of just having the same effect as any other human, the water slowly cleaned and became pure.

It had taken him a little bit to realize she had stopped singing.

His interest was piqued, and curiosity had taken the better of him. He turned to face her completely and realized she was in her own little world. "You, how did you do that?"

She immediately answered at his question by standing up like those in SOLDIER, however she did not open her mouth. Inside, he wondered what her training really was. Was she in soldier?

"Like I asked, how did you do that to the water?"

"I don't know. I just do." She said softly, her eyes the only seemingly bright thing there was about her that evening. She held up her hand, palm held toward him. Curiosity never killed him, so he took a few steps forward.

When her hand came in contact with his chest, it felt like he had frozen on the outside but warmth, almost like a liquid, flourished through his entire body. It was as if he had become entirely aware of the blood pounding through him. Something inside him flickered and he realized that it was his Mother telling him to get away from the girl as soon as possible.

He didn't move, though. He couldn't. This feeling that she enticed in him was all too addictive. She withdrew her hand though, and the darkness that had surrounded him returned. He looked at her, noticing that it did nothing for her either. As her eyes glowed and watched him, he felt his lips turn into a smirk.

"Interesting."

* * *

It was only that feeling of her hand on him that made her snap. She had always wondered what he was like, what troubled him and what he felt. He kept it close to him and it was almost as if he didn't feel at all. There were other forces that prevented her from feeling him, from healing him.

An electric feeling stopped her as it touched her fingertips and she had pulled away. That was all it took for her to be at his feet that night.

* * *

He had made it fast and easy. He offered her to dinner and then up to the room at the inn they were staying in. She had paused but soon entered into the room after him.

* * *

When she had paused, she had to think about the electric feeling at her fingertips. It wasn't normal. It was like a totally different presence was speaking to her. She had heard about him before, from that AVALANCHE group that he, Sephiroth, had been on a trek to destroy the entire world like that calamity a thousand years ago.

A calamity that she figured she had come in contact with when she touched him. But it was his eyes and the fact that she felt lost that night that she decided to be with him that night.

* * *

He had been gentle right from the beginning as she tentatively let her legs carry her to stand before him. He leaned and took her lips with his, kissing her gently at first. His hands rested on her hips, and the way he imagined it was nothing compared to what they felt like now.

His fingers took hold of her shirt and slowly pulled it over her head, his hands brushing up her sided. He felt the electricity, the sleeping passion underneath her. He tossed the shirt from her head as he let his fingers run down her arms to slowly touch her fingers.

She had stood there quietly, not looking at him in the eye at first. Two of his fingers took her one hand. He had always imagined her hands were soft, and they were. He led her hand to rest on her chest as he helped her loosen one of the buckles there.

He noticed then that she was trembled, and shivers had begun to fill her skin. He took a step closer, closing the distance as his arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her flush against him.

He felt her inhale and then breath out again. He wanted her and he needed his fill. This innocent roaming would get him nowhere. He unzipped the skirt she was wearing and it fell to her feet. Her legs were smooth and he couldn't stop visualizing her legs around him.

His hand moved to her chin and raised it so that she was looking him in the eye. What he saw there was undeniable and completely frightening: grace, safety, hope, faith and a giving that took him aback.

That was all his and he was not scared to take from the pool she was offering.

* * *

The television played visions in front of her that she didn't care for. She wondered what he was feeling while they had consummated. She wondered if he felt anything of her powers, of letting her heal him of his pain and of ridding the sin and sickness from his body.

She had glowed for more than three days after that night. She remembered the comment he had made a few hours after, "You are glowing." Maybe he observed her more that she thought.

She had been glowing for other reasons and not just by sleeping with him. Now, she just regretted everything they had ever done. Regret was the one thing that felt like her life was being sucked away.

* * *

He got up the next morning, took a shower and then pulled on his clothes. She had woken up just before he left and she pulled the blanket over her body, her tainted body. He nodded to her and said curtly, "Good day." And then he was gone.

Something inside of him had changed, and he relentlessly tried to escape that feeling after that morning until he finally made his way to the North Crater. He wouldn't give in to human feelings or human weaknesses.

She was a weakness and nothing else. He couldn't waste his time on one pitiful human when he had bigger plans in store.

* * *

And it hurt her to realize that every morning, a year later, she would be looking at an exact replica of the Great General with the captivating Mako eyes and gentle fingers – his son. 


End file.
